DKC Atlas Forum

Paon, the company currently in control of DK, seems to be one of the few that acknowledges what Rare has done, and I'm grateful for that, but there are some... things they've done that bother me to no end! Despite all of the hideous redesigns they've done, and the general butchering of characters and everything about them makes me wonder why anyone still wants Paon to work on DK. Here is a list of what are, in my opinion, the WORST 4 redesigns they've done.

4. Dixie: WTF? Having no knee-pads is one thing, but her face. what happened there? All of a sudden she's got a unique looking mouth-area that all Kongs have, and then Paon changes it into a coconut-shaped lump. Then, to add insult to injury, they take the tiny earrings she had, and make them bright blue and huge, and make her incredibly girly. Why is Dixie turning into Peach?

3. Cranky: Not only is his new design ugly (it looks like he's suffering from duck-mouth syndrome like the TV show characters), but his voice! Every time he talks in JC he'll go "Whey!" or "Whey?", or even "Whey...". Such diversity! But that's not the worst part, either. Cranky is supposed to be cranky, but as of now he isn't the slightest bit cranky at all. What happened? Did he take some laxatives after his bananas? Did he take some anti-depressants? Is he on some sort of drug? Scary thoughts...

2. Tiny: This is probably the biggest "WTF" redesign I've seen. Tiny started off in DK64 as a sort of Dixie clone with the ability to shrink, but she also had some things that made her unique, so I didn't mind. Then Rare makes DKRDS. They're going to use Tiny's old model, but Nintendo steps in and says something to the effect of "Use Paon's character model that makes her look like a Candy-esque wh***!" So now Dixie's little sister is a skimpy teenage freak, while Dixie remains the same size.

1. And now, for the worst change of all. The mutilated new design of what was once my favourite character. The most terrible redesign I've ever seen. The most terrible thing ever done to ANY video game character EVER! He's is the main reason I made this thread, and it's depressing that Paon could take an awesome character and turn him into a complete freak of nature. In case you don't know who I'm talking about, I'll show you.














What is that... thing? It certainly isn't K. Rool, that's for sure. This.. thing, this freak of nature, this deranged lump makes me want to barf in a bag and eat it. What have they done? A perfectly designed character turned into that THING!

Now then, some of you may say something along the lines of "OMG u n00b hes teh same!!!!!!11", so I'll show how this deformed creation has changed from the original design of a once interesting character with a great design into a hideous, bumbling green lump.

Just looking at it, and a few thing immediately become clear.

-tan stomach

-practically normal eye

-different shape to eyes

-less crooked teeth

-claws

-tiny, tiny crown.

However, there a few thing you may have not noticed.

-thinner jaws

-different position of teeth

-different gold colour

-blue jewel

-brow is a different shape

-both eyes are smaller

-legs have become much more generic and uninteresting

-no tail to be seen

-the feet have become so plain

And then there's the thing you can't tell by looking at the picture...
HIS NEW VOICE! The most shrill, deranged, giddy, freakish voice I've ever seen come out of any DK character EVER! Yuck! It's like they used that disgusting DKC cartoon as a reference!

What's interesting, however, is that his good design and god-awful redesign have co-existed. How? Simple. DKC3 GBA and DK: KoS. We saw our first look of this hideous mutant, and then saw him as a normal character for just one last game.


R.I.P.

This is why I despise Paon's DK series redesigns.

I'm going to have to disagree with the majority of what you said.

First of all, though we all wish every little detailed was preserved exactly as it were in 1994, it's not, and anyone who can't deal with that is out of luck. Things change, and in the nearly 15 years since DKC it's foolish to think every character could remain the same, even if Rare were still the main developer of the series.

Though I do agree that Cranky and Tiny's redesigns are disappointing, I can't say I care to much. Paon is almost solely responsible for bringing back some popularity to the characters that Nintendo would've been happy to flush down the drain and start anew. I'd rather have my old characters back with some slight redesigns than not have them at all.


And K. Rool looks fine, you're overreacting.

Fine? That thing is hideous! Nintendo already had a character model to use for Dixie (or maybe 2) from Donkey Konga 2/3 and Superstar baseball.

And why would it be foolish to think a few main characters would remain the same? Bowser hasn't changed since 1988, Samus since 1992, DK himself hasn't changed since the original DKC, and Kirby hasn't changed at all. Not to mention that K.Rool, Dixie, and Cranky were all redesigned at a strange point in time. DKC2 GBA had been released, KoS is released after DKC2, DKC3 GBA is released after KoS.

I feel you bro, he used to look so sinister. He's still my fav game enemy, but I don't feel the same about him, take the melee and brawl trophies and then tell me you can't see the difference.

It's either that, or nonexistence. Character designs change over time, boohoo. You think any of the Mario cast look the same as they did when they first came out - heck, even as they did ten years ago? Are they all still not recognizably the same characters as they're being billed as? If so, then the designs succeed in the only manner they have to. If you don't like it, then I'm sure we can just say goodbye to every single one of them, because they're not going to show up otherwise. All the fact that you went and pointed out bit by bit every little niggling difference in the two K. Rool designs (oh, by the by, compare that DK64 render you did to a render of K. Rool from DKC - or, hell, even in-game 64 K. Rool) does is tell me you take far more seriously than any sane person should.

Everyone wants it exactly the same as it was in 1994. That's impossible. That'd be impossible even if Rare was still making DK games. Series change. Characters change, especially if its a series that has gone through as much upheaval as this one has. Either accept it, or move on with your life, two much more effective things than being a petulant whiner about monkeys in a children's video game.

K. Rool looks fine. In fact, I kinda like the blue Jewel. Kritter, I don't like anymore...

for your information, Nintendo was responsible for suggesting a Tiny growth spurt. Not Paon.

I think he looks horrible now myself, his eye isn't obvious anymore, and he just doesn't look crazy, and he'sobviously schizophrenic but you really can't tell anymore.

Either way, Jo is right as usual, we have to accept that this is how K. Rool is going to be, or we won't have him at all. I want him in the next Smash, whether he looks like crap, or not.

But I feel ya, Darth, anyway.

I would've responded sooner, but I suppose it doesn't make much difference. I pointed out all those differences to show HOW he's changed. Although I dislike a few, there are several I like/am indifferent about. I suppose you should've noticed that the first time, where my post said "so I'll show how this deformed creation has changed from the original design of a once interesting character with a great design into a hideous, bumbling green lump." I never specified which changes I liked/disliked. And as for characters changing, I gave a few examples of characters that have barely (or just plain haven't) changed at all. I don't hate all the redesigns (and actually like some of them more than the Rare versions), and I can understand that they could change the look of the drones now and then between games (which Rare was already doing), but why change the main characters everyone remembered? DK looks the same, Diddy is really close (slightly more like the Rare design in Brawl), Funky is alright, and Lanky kinda looks a bit better. The Kritters are alright, Klump is good (except for the bucket and face), but K. Rool, Dixie, TIny, and Cranky have all been ****ed up.

K. Rool looked alot more sinister than Bowser, or many other Nintendo villians. He was also completely nuts and kept changing his alias. He was mean to his own soldiers, and he hated the Kongs more than most Nintendo villians hate their game's protaganist. Now he'd rather let his minions deal with them, be willing to join them in races, and tells his own soldiers that they're now allied with the Kongs when playing baseball. If his personality wasn't screwed over enough, his face looks more like generic kremling #3 than his old and unique design. Blech.

And Paon had Tiny's model already made for Barrel Blast, which is why it was in DKRDS.

And who do you think prompted them to redesign Tiny for DKBB?

Anyway, Namco is responsible for the character's representation in Mario Super Sluggers. Besides, it's the best representation of the characters in a Mario game ever.

Besides, what are you complaining about? Rare was notorious for redesigning characters from game to game. K. Rool was redesigned 3 times, Wrinkly retired and then died, Funky was redesigned, not to mention all the character's changes in DK64.

Jomingo wrote:And who do you think prompted them to redesign Tiny for DKBB?

Anyway, Namco is responsible for the character's representation in Mario Super Sluggers. Besides, it's the best representation of the characters in a Mario game ever.

Besides, what are you complaining about? Rare was notorious for redesigning characters from game to game. K. Rool was redesigned 3 times, Wrinkly retired and then died, Funky was redesigned, not to mention all the character's changes in DK64.

3 times. And What did Rare do to him? Gave him darker skin, bigger hands, and nostrils? Gave him a bigger crown and lighter skin? Gave him claws and a slightly shorter cape? It may as well have been the same design. Nothing compared to what Paon did to his design in KoS. Wrinkly just changed clothes and then turned into a ghost, Funky also changed clothes, Diddy got slightly darker skin and blue eyes, but only in the artwork, Cranky changed clothes, Candy changed clothes, and DK stayed exactly the same.

DK4Ever wrote:his eye isn't obvious anymore

I've never noticed anything special about his eye anyway.

Gnawzooka wrote:

DK4Ever wrote:his eye isn't obvious anymore

I've never noticed anything special about his eye anyway.

I have to agree with Darth about most of the changes. K. Rool's new design isn't THAT bad, but the old one made him look like a crazy villain who'd do anything to steal the Kong's banana hoard. The new design makes him look friendlier than Marx! The old design was actually much more detailed, and even though the new one has the creepy eye, it's almost unnoticeable. But, I think K. Rool's new design isn't the worst, the worst is Tiny's. She used to be Dixie's younger, innocent sister, but now it's all reversed! And Cranky...he's definitely not cranky anymore.

I think it's that he just doesn't stay in an old cabin for the entire game anymore...

The Guy wrote:I think it's that he just doesn't stay in an old cabin for the entire game anymore...

It didn't help in DKC3, where he ran a dojo, played games, and waterskied. It's not just his personality, though. His face looks like it got stretched out, and the only Kong in that TV show not to have duck face syndrome is the only one to have it in the games. I miss old Cranky.

Darth wrote:

Gnawzooka wrote:

DK4Ever wrote:his eye isn't obvious anymore

I've never noticed anything special about his eye anyway.

I've never noticed that before. Probably because on his sprites it hardly shows up at all.

:|

I've never noticed that before. Probably because on his sprites it hardly shows up at all.

It's in all but nine frames, but really only apparent in the crown throwing animation.

Well I can see it now that you've mentioned it and I've looked closely, but before that... nope.

...

I've never played DK64 and don't plan on doing so.

Jomingo wrote:First of all, though we all wish every little detailed was preserved exactly as it were in 1994, it's not, and anyone who can't deal with that is out of luck. Things change, and in the nearly 15 years since DKC it's foolish to think every character could remain the same, even if Rare were still the main developer of the series.

I will agree on this, look at the Zelda series (though they do change the actual character, there is more than one Link)
Also at Mario (he used to be awkward, and the red and blue on his clothes were reversed, which I think all of those changes made him look OVER 9000!!!! times better)

Jomingo wrote:Though I do agree that Cranky and Tiny's redesigns are disappointing, I can't say I care to much. Paon is almost solely responsible for bringing back some popularity to the characters that Nintendo would've been happy to flush down the drain and start anew. I'd rather have my old characters back with some slight redesigns than not have them at all.

I've never seen Cranky's new look, can someone give me a pic.

Also what happened to Tiny Tiny Kong. I thought she was supposed to be small, now she looks like a hooker and, as George Lopez said, they gave her Chi Chis!

Jomingo wrote:And K. Rool looks fine, you're overreacting.

He looks OK, but I like his old design better.



@ Gnawzooka

Why? DK64 was a great game!

It just looks like its too... differnet to the DKC games.

FefeRawft wrote:I've never seen Cranky's new look, can someone give me a pic.

Here you go:
He was better before, in my opinion.

Sockpuppet wrote:

FefeRawft wrote:I've never seen Cranky's new look, can someone give me a pic.

Here you go:
He was better before, in my opinion.

Not only was he cranky, he actually LOOKED Cranky.

Gnawzooka wrote:It just looks like its too... differnet to the DKC games.

I sometimes think of it as a "3-D DKC." Sort of, in some ways.

I think it is better than most DK games. My top 4 DK games currently are:

1. DKC 2
2. & 3. DKC and DK64
4. DKC 3

I can't choose what I like better, DKC or DK64.

Anyway, the new Cranky looks too, cartoonish and happy. Thanks for the pics. He looks absolutely horrible. The new JB style DK is Ok, but his hair looks too long, he looks kind of evil, but he stayed relatively the same.

FefeRawft wrote:

Gnawzooka wrote:It just looks like its too... differnet to the DKC games.

I sometimes think of it as a "3-D DKC." Sort of, in some ways.

I think it is better than most DK games. My top 4 DK games currently are:

1. DKC 2
2. & 3. DKC and DK64
4. DKC 3

I can't choose what I like better, DKC or DK64.

Anyway, the new Cranky looks too, cartoonish and happy. Thanks for the pics. He looks absolutely horrible. The new JB style DK is Ok, but his hair looks too long, he looks kind of evil, but he stayed relatively the same.

It'd seem Nintendo is trying to absorb them into Mario spin-offs, so they're hideusly redesigning them appropriately.

One thing I notice about Dixie is that she looks good at some angles and terrible at others (with BOTH designs). The only good representation of her that doesn't look half-deranged from certain angles is Konga 3 artwork and Mario Hoops 3-on-3 artwork. I wonder how she looks in-game...

Anyway, I'll show you what I mean about the angles.

Rare: Good Bad

Paon: Good Bad

Konga 3: Good

Mario Hoops 3-on-3: Good

I noticed a few new things about Dixie's new design.

Her eyes have more green than they used to.
She used to resemble Diddy in a few ways, now she doesn't
She's taller
Her toenails are no longer painted

I just realized that this is in the wrong board because it is not talking about a game per say. I think it would fit in better either under General DKC Discussion or Peg Swingers. What do you guys think?

Well, it's discussing designs that are present in all the games, not just Peg-Swingers or DKC. The new designs aren't in any DKC games, so I thought it'd make sense to put it here.